Friday fun

Royce has come up with a way to help me overcome my indecisiveness. I'm not sure yet how much I like it, but it sure does make for an entertaining evening!

To begin, he handed me a 20-sided die (although his doesn't have neat blue and yellow dots). I was instructed to roll, and whatever number I rolled would determine our activity for the evening. On a piece of paper were 20 possible activities (this list, though, was not to be seen by my eyes, lest I try and cheat). I was also told that if I wanted to roll again for a different activity I could do so, but it would cost me a dollar. Can you believe that my very own fiance is trying to rip me off?! Lucky for me, I was thrilled by the activity that corresponded with the number I rolled: a trip to the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum!

You would not believe how cool that place is. First of all, it's free. And not free in the sense that when you walk in there is a donation box with a person behind it that won't let you pass unless you donate the suggested amount of $15 (have you ever been to one of those? I hate that!). And this week was especially exciting as they were celebrating their 30th Anniversary. The special anniversary event for Friday was going behind the scenes to see the hidden collections. We ended up on the insects tour--not the best choice it turns out, as the smell of chemicals was nauseating to the point where I was trying to breath through Royce's shirt to avoid passing out. But we saw some pretty cool dead bugs. Not as cool as this display though:

A butterfly made out of butterflies! Wow!

At 7:30 they had a live animal show--Friday was supposed to be invertebrates, but instead we got reptiles. A fair exchange, I think. The host of the show, Matt, was super entertaining, but not as entertaining as the kids. We met Otis the Tortoise, Colonel Mustard the lizard, and a boa constrictor, whose name fails me. In any case, the kids asked the greatest questions, such as:

"Is that the kind of snake that shatters?" An incredulous Matt responds, "I've never heard of that kind of snake; it sounds awesome though." The kid: "You know. When their body shatters apart?" My question: is this a shattering snake that also reconstructs after it shatters?

Another one, in reference to Colonel Mustard who is a bearded dragon lizard: "Does it have fire in it?!" Unfortunately, no.

On the other hand, they asked some pretty intelligent questions, such as what each animals' predators were, which were the largest species of each animal, and what species could you find in Utah. I should clarify that these were primarily little boys. Go figure.

Royce had the brilliant idea of inviting the Trumans, who fortunately were able to come, which meant that we got to hang out with Lucy and like star-struck fans watch her every reaction and laugh at her every delight. Following the show, Lori was asking Lucy about the animals we had seen and asked her what color Colonel Mustard the lizard was.

Lori: "Was he yellow?"
Lucy: "No."
Lori: "What color of lizard is he?"
Lucy: "Kind of an orange-green lizard."

Oh. Both orange and green have yellow in them, so I guess that's not too far off.

Well folks, I was going to tell you what happened when I rolled for dinner, but this post is too long as it is, so you'll just have to wait in anxious suspense.